Foldable protective head enclosure

ABSTRACT

A PROTECTIVE HOOD FOR THE HEAD HAS A FRONT WINDOW FORMED FROM A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE PLASTIC PROVIDED WITH A CENTRAL OUTLET OPENING IN FRONT OF THE MOUTH AND INLET OPENINGS AT ECH SIDE OF THE CENTRAL OPENING. SECURED TO THE WINDOW IN AN OUTLET VALVE SURROUNDED BY A BREATHING TUBE THAT EXTENDS REARWARDLY FOR INSERTION IN THE MOUTH. EACH INLET OPENING IS CLOSED BY A FILTER, AND A COVER HAS AN UPRIGHT BODY SPACED BEHIND THE FILTERS AND VALVE AND ALSO HAS FORWARDLY EXTENDING WALLS SEALED TO THE INNER SURFACE OF THE WINDOW AROUND THE OPENINGS AS A GROUP. THIS COVER BODY IS PROVIDED WITH AN OPENING THROUGH WHICH THE BREATHING TUBE EXTENDS, AND THE TUBE HAS A LATERAL INLET OPENING BETWEEN THE COVER BODY AND THE WINDOW FOR ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE INSIDE OF THE TUBE AND THE AIR DUCT FORMED BY THE COVER. AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE TUBE OPENING IN THE COVER IT HAS HINGED PORTIONS TO PERMIT THE COVER AND WINDOW TO BE FOLDED REARWARDLY ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE BREATHING TUBE WHEN NOT IN USE.

Nov. 23, 1971 H. w. AUSTIN FTAL FOLDABLE PROTECTIVE HEAD ENCLOSURE,

2 Sh00tsShu-ct 2 Filed May 14, 1970 V E 'd M m n v F /x l 7. E T: m a 5ul hl l H. W. AUSTIN ETA!- Nov. 23, 1971 FOLDABLE PROTECTIVE HEADENCLOSURE Filed May 14, 1970 United States Patent 3,621,841 FOLDABLEPROTECTIVE HEAD ENCLOSURE Harry W. Austin, Monroeville, John C. Miller,Pittsburgh, Rutherford B. Snyder, Jr., Bradford Woods, and John W.Neidhart, Mouroeville, Pa., assignors to Mine Safety Appliances Company,Pittsburgh, Pa. Filed May 14, 1970, Ser. No. 37,135 Int. Cl. A62h 17/04US. Cl. 128-142.7 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A protective hoodfor the head has a front window formed from a sheet of flexible plasticprovided with a central outlet opening in front of the mouth and inletopenings at each side of the central opening. Secured to the window isan outlet valve surrounded by a breathing tube that extends rearwardlyfor insertion in the mouth. Each inlet opening is closed by a filter,and a cover has an upright body spaced behind the filters and valve andalso has forwardly extending walls sealed to the inner surface of thewindow around the openings as a group. This cover body is provided withan opening through which the breathing tube extends, and the tube has alateral inlet opening between the cover body and the window forestablishing communication between the inside of the tube and the airduct formed by the cover. At opposite sides of the tube opening in thecover it has hinged portions to permit the cover and window to be foldedrearwardly on opposite sides of the breathing tube when not in use.

The invention herein described was made in the course of, or under, acontract or subcontract thereunder with the Department of The Air Force.Protective head enclosures or hoods, usually worn with protective suits,protect against extreme heat and/or noxious chemicals. When protectingagainst chemicals, such as chemical warfare agents, air purifyingapparatus also must be Worn. Although a gas mask could be worn insidethe hood, this requires a bulkier hood and also makes it necessary tocarry and put on the extra mask. It would be desirable to have the hoodand mask combined into a single unit, but heretofore that would haveinterfered with the hood being folded in order to occupy little spacewhen it is not in use so that it conveniently can be carried by a personfor use in an emergency.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a protective headenclosure, in which a hood also serves as a breathing mask, and in whichthe hood and the breathing components attached to it can be folded whennot in use.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a front view of the headenclosure;

FIG. 2 is a side view;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section of the front of the enclosure,but showing it in a flat plane;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary inside or rear view of the front of theenclosure; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are enlarged vertical sections taken on the lines V-V andVii-VI, respectively, of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a hood 1 formed to surroundthe head is formed from flexible impervious material, preferablyaluminized nylon film. The bottom of the hood may be designed to besealed around the neck or it may be sealed to the collar of a completeprotective suit. The front of the hood is provided with a large andgenerally rectangular opening 2 that is covered by a sheet oftransparent plastic 3 sealed 3,6Zl,84l Patented Nov. 23, 1971 to thewall of the opening. This window gives good visibility to the'personwearing the hood.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the window is provided with an outlet opening4 that is located in front of the mouth of the wearer. It also isprovided with an inlet opening 5 a each side of this central opening.Mounted in the central opening is an outlet valve that includes aflanged cup 6 sealed to the wall of the opening. The back of the cup hasseveral spaced holes in it that are normally closed by a flexible rubberdisc 7, the central portion of which is anchored in the cup. Air canpass outwardly through the valve but not inwardly.

Surrounding this valve is the large front end of a breathing tube 9. Therear portion of the tube is reduced in height materially to form an ovalportion that can be held in the month by means of a conventionalresilient bitepiece 10 mounted on the tube. Although the nose may beclosed by a separate clamp, it is preferred to close it with a resilientclip '11 (FIG. 5) integral with a post 12, the lower end of whichsurrounds the breathing tube in front of the bitepiece. The tubetherefore holds the clip in position when the bitepiece is in the mouh.

Each of the inlet openings 5 in the window is closed by a filter. Thispreferably is done by mounting the filter 14 in a case 15 that fitssnugly in the inlet opening. The front of the case is open to receivethe filter, but the back of the case inside the hood is closed exceptfor a port or two that are closed during exhalation by a rubber flap 16supported by studs 17 projecting from the back of the case, as shown inFIGS. 3, '4 and 6.

Visibility through the window can be improved by making the inletopenings and the filter cases substantially in the form of righttriangles, with one leg of each triangle at the bottom and substantiallyhorizonal, and wih the hypotenuse inclined upwardly and outwardly fromthe inner end of the bottom leg. As shown in FIG. 1, this provides morespace between the tops of the filters than between their bottoms.

To permit air to be inhaled through the breathing tube 9, it is providedwith a lateral inlet opening 19 at each side of the outlet valve. Airentering the hood from the filters is confined in a duct thatcommunicates with these openings. This duct is formed between the windowand the upright body 20 of a cover spaced behind the filters and valveand having forwardly extending peripheral walls 21 surrounded byintegral flanges 22 sealed to the inner surface of the window around thegroup of three openings therein. The cover is provided with an opening23, through which the reduced rear portion of the breathing tube 9extends and in which it is sealed. The cover also serves to hold thebreathing tube in position around the outlet valve. It is stiff enoughto maintain is shape without collapsing, but for a reason that will soonappear it is made of a material, such as a plastic, that can be foldedand unfolded with little effort and without damage to it. Zlnhalationthrough the breathing ube draws air through the filters and into theduct formed by the cover, whe exhalation forces air straight out throughhe cenral exhalation valve.

Of course, there is no problem is folding the hood to bring the backportion forward against the air filtering system and the window, but thefolded hood would still be as wide as the window and that is too widefor packaging in a small case to be carried by the user. It is thereforea feature of this invention that the window 3 can be folded upon itselfagainst the opposite sides of the breathing tube to reduce the width ofthe window by nearly half. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, thecover that forms the air duct has hinge portions at opposite sides ofthe tube so that the cover can be folded rearwardly with the window. Thehinge portions may be formed by molding crimps into the cover atopposite sides of the breathing tube. Thus, the upright body 20 of thecover is provided with forwardly directed crimps 25 extending from topto bottom of it. The sides of each crimp meet at substantially a rightangle along their front edges, and that is the point or line along whichthe hinging occurs. Also, to prevent the upper and lower peripheralwalls 21 of the cover from interfering with folding of the cover, theyare provided with vertically directed crimps 26 at the upper and lowerends of the other crimps 25. Consequently, although the cover normallyis a stitf member, it can be folded at the crimps when desired and thispermits the head gear to be flattened to take up less room when not inuse.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explainedthe principle of our invention and have illustrated and described whatwe now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire tohave it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustratedand described.

We claim:

1. A protective head enclosure comprising a flexible hood adapted tototally enclose the head of a user, said hood having a window formedfrom a sheet of flexible transparent plastic, the window being providedwith a central outlet opening, the window also having inlet openings ateach side of the outlet opening, an outlet valve for the outlet openingsecured to the window, a breathing tube surrounding said outlet valveand extending in teriorly therefrom for insertion in the mouth, a filterclosing each inlet opening, and a relatively rigid cover means spacedbehind said filters and outlet valve and having forwardly extendingperipheral walls sealed to the inner surface of the window around saidinlet and outlet openings to form an air duct, said cover means beingprovided with an aperture receiving the breathing tube, said tube havinga lateral innlet passageway between said cover means and windowestablishing communication between the inside of the tube and said duct,and the cover means having substantially vertical hinge portions atopposite sides of said aperture to permit the cover means and window tobe folded on opposite sides of the breathing tube when not in use.

2. A protective head enclosure according to claim 1, in which each ofsaid hinge portions of the cover means includes a forwardly directedcrimp extending from top to bottom of said cover means.

3. A protective head enclosure according to claim 1, in which each ofsaid hinge portions of the cover means includes a forwardly directedcrimp extending from top to the bottom of said cover means, andvertically directed crimps in said peripheral walls at the upper andlower ends of said first-mentioned crimp.

4. A protective head enclosure according to claim 1, in which said inletopenings are substantially right triangles with one leg of each triangleat the bottom and substantially horizontal and with the hypotenuses ofthe two triangles diverging upwardly from the inner ends of thehorizontal legs.

5. A protective head enclosure according to claim 1, including filtercases extending interiorly from said inlet openings and containing saidfilters, said cases being sealed against the window and provided intheir backs with ports, and inlet valves carried by the cases forclosing said ports during exhalation.

6. A protective head enclosure according to claim 1, including abitepiece mounted on the interior end of the breathing tube, and a noseclip mounted on said tube and extending upwardly therefrom for closingthe nose.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 703,948 7/1902 Muntz. 1,395,94811/1921 Drager. 1,978,994 10/ 1934 Fortunato. 2,706,983 4/1955 Mathesonet al. 3,098,233 7/ 1963 Hoagland.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner J. B. MITCHELL, Assistant Examiner

